Loading stuff into neo via the batch API

body.txt

[ {
  "method" : "POST",
  "to" : "/node",
  "body" : {
    "name" : "Jen"
  },
  "id" : 1111
}, {
"method" : "POST",
"to" : "/index/node/people",
"body" : {
  "value": "Jen",
  "uri": "{1111}",
  "key": "name"
}
}]

curl_command

curl -d @body.txt -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" http://localhost:7474/db/data/batch

neo_loading.rb

# So the problem is inserting data into neo using the batch API. So we have a bunch of people and we want to put them into the graph and also
# add to to the index so that we can search for them. 
# The way the batch API works is that you can refer to previous commands by referencing their index in the list of commands (zero indexed)
# e.g. if I want to reference the person added in the first command I would reference that node as {0} 
# You should be able to see how that works in the code below.  

neo_people_to_load = Set.new
neo_people_to_load << { :name => "Mark Needham", :id => 1 }
neo_people_to_load << { :name => "Jenn Smith", :id => 2 }
neo_people_to_load << { :name => "Chris Ford", :id => 3 } 

command_index = 0
people_commands = neo_people_to_load.inject([]) do |acc, person| 
  acc << [:create_node, {:id => person[:id], :name => person[:name]}]
  acc << [:add_node_to_index, "people", "name", person[:name], "{#{command_index}}"]
  command_index += 2
  acc
end

# So what we want to get is the following:
# [
#  [:create_node, {:id=>"1", :name=>"Mark Needham"}], [:add_node_to_index, "people", "name", "Mark Needham", "{0}"], 
#  [:create_node, {:id=>"2", :name=>"Jenn Smith"}], [:add_node_to_index, "people", "name", "Jenn Smith", "{2}"], 
#  [:create_node, {:id=>"3", :name=>"Chris Ford"}, [:add_node_to_index, "people", "name", "Chris Ford", "{4}"]
# ]

# OK so I cannot test this but http://docs.neo4j.org/chunked/snapshot/rest-api-batch-ops.html
# indicates we can just use arbitrary IDs, not indexxes. providing they are unique and numeric

# Does that make it a bit simpler?
# Assuming here you have given an auto id to person each time, if not I would use map_indexed and flatten
people_commands = neo_people_to_load.inject([]) do |acc, person| 
  acc << [:create_node, {:id => person[:id], :name => person[:name]}]
  acc << [:add_node_to_index, "people", "name", person[:name], "{#{person[:id]}}"]
  acc
end

I would just structure it like https://gist.github.com/2906469/d55492cdee790e84b994468cdb21ab1daf464bca (the non interleaved sln) for maximum goodness.

We should always write code like this.